An awsome little mountain. It is awfully exposed, lots of loose rock. I think the mountain justifies a roped pitch before the crawl and directly after. We did niether. I personally was OK with that. I know others were extremely uncomfortable. I found the rock sound when it needed to be The views are spectacular. It is truly the smallest summit I may ever get to stand on.

A previous day of high snow made the peak seem daunting from below. Brilliant sunshine warmed the rock and dried up the parts we needed to use really sweet. We got to the “crawl” around 1 PM, waited for a mountain guide and his client to clear the route. After that it was all ours! My partners were Nolana Horning and Bob Koca. Although I did not feel the summit pitch worthy of the 5.6 rating, I must say the view off the east face affords much exposure for the uninitiated or seasoned. On another occasion I had scrambled the 4th class “crawl” in low visibility failing to realize the ramifications of a slip. I highly recommend roping up and protecting the “crawl”. A single 50M rope with the second person tied in past the center mark and the third person on the end worked well for us. I did it all with wired stoppers, medium hexes and tri-cams. Do not leave your helmet in the car to save weight! Henry Bauer

Turned out to be a great day for climbing up there -- I was expecting a long hot day, but we lucked out with a cool break in the weather. Lots of exposure to keep you focused, but the climbing was otherwise excellent. Bits immediately pre & post Crawl seemed to be the sketchiest part of the route.

A beautiful day for climbing! I found the crawl and chimney climb much easier than I anticipated. I found myself sitting for a while at the base of the chimney due to a large group that got ahead of us, but the summit was incredible, and it was a great weekend with friends!

Might have gotten the last summit of 2004 last Saturday, 10/16. Nice sunny weather and a bit of wind for most of the climb. Clouds started pouring in late in the afternoon. Couldn't see 3FJ from Smith Rock the next day because of low clouds, but looks like snow level was down to about 5000' or less. So, unless it warms up a bunch and gets sunny soon, anyone headed up that way should expect snow on the route.

I'll admit it, this one tested my nerves a little bit. The combination of rotten rock and exposure reached the outer limits of my comfort zone. dkantola led this one and as always did a great job. The guy knows his stuff. In my opinion the most exposed climb of all the major Oregon volcanoes. This was also the last major Oregon Cascade peak for me, kind of a nice little milestone.

Waited two hours at the summit pinnacle for a group of 12 Mazamas to clear the route. About eight more people were on their way up as we descended. This is the most exposed summit in the Oregon Cascades. Jefferson probably comes next, followed by Thielsen, North Sister, and Broken Top.

Started at 5:30 am from PCT trailhead with Chemeketans. Got back at 6:30 pm. Other than very little rain and clouds of mosquitos we did not encounter any problems. You may consider taking a Deet shower before hitting this mountain. Exposure along summit pitches was thrilling.

Started out noonish from the parking lot and set up camp on the saddle. Had about 3 hours to mess around so we hiked up to check out the crawl and then back down for some rappeling off a cliff just NE of the ridge. Had a stormy night and witnessed the most amazing sunrise ever. The strong southwest winds blew clouds over the ridge and dropped them onto the east side right in front of the sun. It looked like inverse fire flamming all around us. Stayed in our sacks for a while hoping the winds would die down but finally got out and going hoping for the best. Awesome climb with plenty of exposure to a viewless top on that day. Roped up for the crawl and the top section. Great experinece.

My friend Mark and I have talked about doing a winter ascent for a couple years now. Hiked in starting at about 11 pm Friday night by GPS. Road in to PCT trailhead is closed so we parked at the Snow Park and hiked northeasterly to gain the South Ridge instead of trying to follow a PCT that is about 5 feet under snow.

Brutal hike in with a 68 pound pack but that's what you gotta do in winter. :- P Finally stopped somewhat short of our goal about 2 am and set up camp. We figured the next day would be sleep late and scout the route. Morning was beautiful but we realized we still had about 1.7 miles to go to the summit. Late start at almost 11 am but we made the ridge and stashed our packs heading up only with our gear, pro and a Nalgene each. Figured we did not want to re-do this on Sunday and do the brutal hike out the same day so we decided to push it on Saturday.

Ridge was fun and easy and we made our way over to the saddle between the ridge and the main mass of 3FJ. Climbed up easy slopes to the ridge and we could see a bit of the climber's trail in a melted out area. Snow was really mushy but we did 4 pitches up the ridge to the second gendarme staying on the left side on slopes from 25 to maybe 65 degrees, mostly about 45 degrees. Got to the second gendarme and it looked like easier snow slopes around to the left instead of doing the normal route but we hit our 4 pm turnaround time so we headed back just barely short of the summit. This one looks fun and doable in winter but we made the right decision to head back as the wind REALLY whipped up and almost knocked us off the ridge on the way back.

Slept like 11 hours that night and then did the hike out. As usual, it was bacon cheeseburgers and milk shakes at Poppa Al's in Mill City. No Ding Dongs this trip but I did get some Brownie Bites in Detroit to satisfy my crapfood intake.

Really a fun climb. Cruised in over late summer snow to find bare warm rock near the top. The guide said something about "sketchy traverse", but I saw nothing of the sort. A rope is nice for the summit pinnacle --- I forgot my harness, but found something whipped up out of a couple of slings to be more than adequate.

Followed the PCT for a few miles, then made our way up a lovely scree field. When we arrived at the "Crawl" clouds blew in fast an engulfed the summit. We put in a fixed line one the "Crawl" , then freed the summit. Got just enough of a break in the clouds to get a great view of the Sisters, Washington and the Link fire.

A long day with a large group. The weather was good, although smoke from the Link Fire burning south of Suttle Lake obscured views to the east. The summit, a high point along a knife-edged ridge, is quite an airy perch.